Geese As Pets

[kandahar]

Interesting thread. I'd seriously considered getting a couple of baby geese as 'watchdogs' - my dogs are too friendly and sleep even more soundly than me during the night....

Having read this thread I've realised its not a good idea!

I got rid of my last 2 dogs as they were killing the chickens and ducks and I also had seriously considered getting geese in to replace them.

I am 100% in agreement with you on this.

I hate the idea of a long-haired dog in a hot climate like this but there are some here already. Consider a Great Pyrenees dog. They are a great animal for a small farm. As the dog grows from puppy to mature, it will assume responsibility for you birds. Get a female if you get one at all. A male will smell a female in heat in the neighborhood and forget his job if he can get out to go find her.

The Great Pyrenees (G.P.) will work all night and loaf a lot during the day. You won't have to worry about neighbor's dogs getting your birds once the dog reaches maturity. Most likely, you won't have to worry about neighbors getting your birds, either. The breed pretty much comes to identify what is yours and assumes responsibility for it. The dog WILL bark at night but it is only an occasional warning to all varmits that are considering coming on the place under cover of darkness. It will be a periodic, deep set of three 'Woof! Woof! Woof!" only, not a constant, pain in the butt, racket. You will grow accustomed to it very quickly and will come to depend on hearing it before you fall asleep. Once you hear her do it, you are assured that she is on the job. If there is trouble or visitors, she will make a much different bark and you will recognize it and wake.

As a pup, the dog may kill a bird while playing with it. Discipline the dog once and that will probably be the end of it. I have never seen one kill a bird intentionally but I have seen them as pups kill a young one by playing too rough with them if I didn't already have a mature G.P on hand to monitor them. I have never seen one kill more than one young bird. The breed HATES to let you down, so if you ever discover a nest that has been ruined by something, call her over to it and point it out. You will be surprised at her reaction. Most likely, she will start scooping dirt, dead grass and any other debris she can find and cover it up completely and then pat it down with her paws while you stand there. I am not sure why they do it but every one I have ever had does that with a ruined nest and they stay ever more vigilant in that area for a while, day and night, hoping to catch the snake or rat or whatever it was.

The birds will grow to trust the dog and will move closer to the dog if they perceive a threat. They will often bed down right up against the dog for their afternoon nap. They know it is the safest place to be when sleeping.

I had 15 acres and hundreds of birds of many kinds and didn't lose birds much. I really had too much area for the dogs to monitor and thick woods covered the majority of the place. Still, they always did an excellent job. Once a dog has matured, you can bring any other pain in the butt dog (not a G.P.) onto the place and she will not let the new dogs hurt the birds. That is a beautiful thing to see also, when she disciplines them because they were getting too close to the birds. That dog will teach other dogs with a lot less effort than you or I could. If your place is big enough, get more than one dog. They work very well together. In fact, it is a shame to have only one when you realize how well they do work together, going in opposite directions to patrol in circles around your place.

They are not a needy dog and will not come when you just call them to be calling them. You have to command them to come when you really want them. If you don't interact with the dog during the day, she will probably come to you once a day and verify your friendship with her. After a bit of petting and a chat, she moves back into "independent" mode and won't bother you again until tomorrow. Mine all needed that once-a-day assurance. If I "called" them to play, they ignored me unless they really felt like playing. I figured out quickly that they knew the difference in my call as to whether I was only "wanting" them to come or if I "needed" them to come. They will come every time, right away, when they think they are needed. If they think you only "want" them and they are needing the rest, they will stay resting.

I had a young daughter on the place and they kept an eye on her and the grandkids when they came. It didn't matter where the grandkids went in the woods, I could always spot a big white dog within several yards of them, the dogs pretending they were not interested in the kids in the least. Let those kids move 20 or 30 yards and the dogs repositioned themselves, every time. Any time my daughter went out for a walk, she had some serious company, no matter how far she went.

People fear the dogs because they are so big but I never had one go after a person or even act like they wanted to. They will watch strangers very closely when one comes to the house and they will allow you to determine if he is friend or foe. If you accept the person, so will they. If you don't have a good exchange with him and he comes back later, they will treat him like he doesn't need to be there. He probably won't be able to get out of his car unless you escort him out. I did read recently of a pair of G.P. that pulled a lady off of a bike in Colorado and killed her when she and her husband tried to ride through a herd of sheep that the dogs were left in charge of. This was miles and miles away from anything, in the middle of nowhere and there was no owner, house or farm nearby. The dogs had been left there in the wilderness on their own to watch over sheep grazing on government prairie in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Edited August 2, 2011 by kandahar

[bina]

pyranees, kuvvasz, meramas et al are great herd guard /livestock dogs but would not suit thailand; there are some in israel for goat/sheep ptoection against jackals, feral dog packs, and wolves in some areas and also sheep rustling and although here they seem to have thinner coats, they suffer in the heat, and most work in moderate areas (mountainous) not in high humidity areas...

genetic gurading tendencies help obviusly but for just 'guarding' thai village dogs work fine. FIL has his chickens and all his hunting village thai dogs (ridgeback mixes with some bangkew mixed in it seems) dont touch any chick or hen.

we had some zaanen (the swiss white) goats that destroyed the roof and baggage cover of a subaru tender (pick up) by leaping up on top to sleep...

like anything else, each animal has its pluses and minuses for work: fur teeth horns feathers biting, chasing, too territorial, whatever. mostly if u know what u need and u are aware of the drawbacks and are willing to work a bit, geese, dogs, or even alpacas can be wonderful guard animals. just buying a sheep guarding dog and throwing him in with the sheep does not mean 100% success without the training. geese if used properly, can also be a good idea but u have to take in to account the drawbacks.

bina

[billd766]

My wife is adamant that we get a couple of geese and I suppose if they do go rouge on us, roast goose will be on the menu.

Time will tell I suppose.

[meatboy]

My wife is adamant that we get a couple of geese and I suppose if they do go rouge on us, roast goose will be on the menu.

Time will tell I suppose.

and think about the roast pots.in all that goose fat.

[billd766]

My wife is adamant that we get a couple of geese and I suppose if they do go rouge on us, roast goose will be on the menu.

Time will tell I suppose.

and think about the roast pots.in all that goose fat.

Yummy